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Door County, WI.
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i used to live in northern wisconsin, now las vegas, and have traveled tons and tons of places in america, and i can say by far and away, if you want a place to go relax, chill out and just hang, WI is def. the place to do it. Door County can be tough because there are lots of tourists all the time, but check it out anyway. or the Hayward, WI area, thousands of lakes/ cabin areas etc.
My personal pick though would be Duluth, MN. once you get north of Duluth, on the scenic hi-way on the road up to Canada, it's just a beautiful road for 100+ miles with changing leaves and nice, cool weather. there are tons of places you can just stop for a night, get a private cabin and be alone. or head down to Duluth, and eat out overlooking Lake Superior.
there's a really nice hiking spot called Gooseberry Falls just north of Duluth that's a perfect place to get some exercise w/ a nice view.
I seriously recommend checking it out, especially this time of year. be careful though, last time i was up there, i hit a wolf. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]
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This is what I'm talking about. This is where I grew up and whenever I go back to visit, it's completely relaxing.
Add the Apostle Islands to the list. Or maybe
Isle Royale.
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QFT
Minnesota on Superior is awesome!
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Door County, WI was the first place i thought of as i read your post. and it seems that it's exactly what you are looking for, since you're giving out the maine/vermont vibe. So if you actually want to go somewhere different, and maybe see some of the US that other NYC people might never see, go to Door County. Fly to Green Bay and rent a car and drive it up. There are plenty of bed and breakfast places and it's right on lake michigan, i'm sure you could get some great reading/writing done there. it's one of those places that's real popular, but only within the people that live in the upper midwest. so i think it's just far enough away to make this a neat experience, and go somewhere beautiful that most people have never heard of.
at least surf around some of the bed n breakfast sites and check out what they have to say about the area.
Or suck it up and fly to california. monterey is ridiculous.